Slumping Bucks gallop into Big D

The Milwaukee Bucks will take a three-game losing streak into Big D on Tuesday night when they visit the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.

The Bucks have been dreadful of late, not just losing three consecutive games. Milwaukee is 2-8 in the month of February and J.J. Redick's Bucks debut was spoiled on Saturday night.

"I feel like I was brought here to help this team win and secure a good playoff position," Redick said. "I'm a competitor, and I certainly didn't want to start off with a loss here. Coming from Orlando, where in the last 30 games we were 3-27, I really wanted to win."

The Bucks fell to the Atlanta Hawks, 103-102 at home. Milwaukee has now dropped two straight at home, but four consecutive on the road, where the Bucks will be for a swing through Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday. They face the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.

Redick had 16 points in his Bucks debut. The team acquired him, Gustavo Ayon and Ish Smith in a trade deadline. Ayon and Smith didn't play against the Hawks.

If you're a Bucks fan looking for a silver lining, the three straight losses all came by three points or fewer. It's only the third time in franchise history the Bucks have played three straight one-possession games and lost all three.

The Mavericks had a three-game winning streak snapped on Sunday when the Los Angeles Lakers came to town and knocked off Dallas, 103-99.

Dirk Nowitzki did everything he could to get the Mavs a win. He scored 30 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and picked up three steals, but it wasn't enough for a victory.

"It's another tough one. I mean, it seems like it's a theme of the year," said Nowitzki. "We're always right there in some of those games and we can never pull them off. And if you want to be a playoff team, you've got to find a way to win at least half of them. We finally pulled one out in New Orleans the other day, but we haven't really won those close games at a high clip, so that's really going to hurt us. This was another game that we needed to have against a team that's right there with us in the hunt and just not good enough."

The Lakers and Mavs are fighting to try and unseat the Rockets for the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers trail Houston by three games and Dallas is a game behind Los Angeles.

The Mavericks have won eight of the last 12 meetings with the Bucks and eight of the last nine between the two teams in Dallas.